The investment committee has authorized an investment in ITIC and I have entered a good till cancelled order below the current market price. I will hope that someone who paid $50 or more per share will now see the wisdom of selling to me at $36 in order that they may benefit from a tax loss. This order will be reconsidered at year end if it is not filled prior.

My ear, nose and throat doctor once told me that people should never put anything smaller than their elbows into their ears. Therefore I would suggest that you simply put your hands over your ears and that the bear put his paws over his ears. You might also decide to join the bear in his winter den for about ten years and take an extended siesta while the financial crisis is worked out.

My IRA is domiciled at Bank of America and I have been advised that I need to wait until the T-bills mature before I may even place an order. Consequently, any orders you may have seen today were not mine. The committee is trying to be patient.

The investment committee held a teleconference this morning and agreed to roll-over about 45% of the funds that were maturing in treasury bills.

Because the amount of funds avilable to be invested in stocks is lessened by that amount, the committee felt it was not mandatory to meet at the Royal Hawaiian and therefore it cancelled the luau. We nevertheless hope that you and the polar have a happy vacation in Hawaii.

Before buying any ITIC, the committee wanted to ask you if you thought ITIC owns any toxic housing related securities among its investments. The committee would feel more at ease buying ITIC if it could get your assurance that the company has avoided investing in real estate CDOs or commercial paper backed by mortgages. The committee would like it even more if ITIC would state in the affirmative that it has NOT invested in any of that junk.

I just took another look at you picture with the polar bear. It appears that you are on a paved street, lined with palm trees beside a body of water. Is that Lake Mead or some other lake near Las Vegas, or are you vacationing somewhere in the tropics? That bear is quite versatile. Does he ever complain about global warming. Perhaps you could feed Al Gore to him if you run out of penguins.

alderson59,I think that anyone who owns no ITIC should begin establishing a position at 37.00, which is at a discount to book value--a book value not puffed up with intangibles and goodwill, either. ITIC is my largest (in $) long position. The polar bear banter with pmlljl is fun, but this post is serious.

Please inform the bear that the luau will be a proper tropical function with ukeleles and traditional Hawaiian customs. There will be no square dancing unless Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley show up unexpectedly to provide proper square dance music. Howver, the committee is considering holding its next meeting at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville where square dancing would be on the agenda.

pmlljl,The bear wants to know whether he can square dance with your committee if he comes to the meeting. If I were you, I'd tell him no to discourage him because the first thing he'll do after bounding from the sleigh is to drink all your committee's mai tais--and eat their leis since they won't have any penguins for him. Then he'll hula dance until the committee agrees that you'll vote any ITIC shares that you buy for a penguin dividend increase.

The committee will be having its annual meeting at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu on December 28. In keeping with the committee's tropical theme, we will be decked out in Hawaiian shirts and leis and have our meeting after the luau and several rounds of mai tais. The investment committee will discuss the merits of ITIC vis-a-vis the merits of Dole and its pinapples and bananas. If you and the polar bear would care to join us, perhaps you could hitch a ride with Santa on his open sleigh at thirty thousand feet. That way the polar bear wouldn't overheat.

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